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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Imgur blocked in the UK

60 replies

RealOliveTraybake · 30/09/2025 01:07

For all those applauding the online safety act in recent threads, AIBU to say they are reaping what they sow?

Imgur has just blocked all UK users from accessing it's site, and Imgur is just the tip of the iceberg.

OP posts:
Saponarium · 30/09/2025 01:10

What is Imgur?

RealOliveTraybake · 30/09/2025 01:13

Saponarium · 30/09/2025 01:10

What is Imgur?

It's been the defacto image sharing site for a decade or more. If you wanted to post an image to this thread you might use Imgur to upload it to and post the link it generates.

Much of the content you see on the internet will have images hosted on Imgur (which you now can't see)

OP posts:
HansHolbein · 30/09/2025 04:10

What is the reason?

urbanbuddha · 30/09/2025 04:18

I’ve seen it used on Reddit. It’s mainly Americans who use it. How much should I care that I can’t see it?

HappiestSleeping · 30/09/2025 04:28

There are tons of those type sites. People will just use another.

WiddlinDiddlin · 30/09/2025 04:38

No no... people who can use Imgur and always have, will continue to use it.

And we'll no longer be able to see what they share.

For those who can still use it, they're unlikely to immediately switch to something everyone can see, it doesn't really affect them so they'll carry on.

Look forward to enjoying less communication, less of what people share (its probably only kittens or porn anyway though).

RealOliveTraybake · 30/09/2025 04:39

WiddlinDiddlin · 30/09/2025 04:38

No no... people who can use Imgur and always have, will continue to use it.

And we'll no longer be able to see what they share.

For those who can still use it, they're unlikely to immediately switch to something everyone can see, it doesn't really affect them so they'll carry on.

Look forward to enjoying less communication, less of what people share (its probably only kittens or porn anyway though).

Exactly this. Imgur is by far the largest site of its kind, it's the first thing outside of porn that will have a real impact on people.

OP posts:
frenchnoodle · 30/09/2025 04:43

I'm not sure it will, I'm pretty sure 99% of the public will not notice as causal internet users I know use 3 basic websites these days, YouTube, Facebook and so on which don't use outside hosting.

More savvy internet users know how to use a VPN.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 30/09/2025 05:35

I thought Imgur was the assistant to Doctor Frankenstein? 🤔

RealOliveTraybake · 30/09/2025 05:36

frenchnoodle · 30/09/2025 04:43

I'm not sure it will, I'm pretty sure 99% of the public will not notice as causal internet users I know use 3 basic websites these days, YouTube, Facebook and so on which don't use outside hosting.

More savvy internet users know how to use a VPN.

Already I have malfunctioning (automated) work emails with images showing "this content is not available in your region". Imgur is used to host many images on other sites. UK based websites/content will adapt, everywhere else will leave us behind.

OP posts:
urbanbuddha · 30/09/2025 05:42

You have agency. Let the sender know you can’t see it and get them to send it another way. We’re not going to be “left behind” because an image hosting site doesn’t want to obey the law.

CypressGrove · 30/09/2025 05:56

Why has it been blocked?

urbanbuddha · 30/09/2025 06:00

Well, I’m guessing but if Reddit is anything to go by Imgur must host a lot of porn some of which presumably falls foul of the UK’s Online Safety Act.

NoCommentingFromNowOn · 30/09/2025 07:01

Bugger! Didn’t know they were going to do that.

Imgur isn’t ’porn and kittens’, it’s a photo sharing site with long term users who have a huge following for their daily photos of Japan, or of their images while driving Lorries all over the US, or of their pet, or of their own weight loss or any other random topic. There are people asking for, and receiving support on there.

A bit like Mumsnet isn’t ’recipes and nappies’.

urbanbuddha · 30/09/2025 08:40

The only place I’ve seen it is Reddit.
The point is it must be showing porn which breaches the Online Safety Act and which it can’t be bothered to remove otherwise it wouldn’t have to withdraw from the UK. It’s not commonly used in the UK where none of us are “driving Lorries all over the US”.

HerewardtheSleepy · 30/09/2025 08:41

Saponarium · 30/09/2025 01:10

What is Imgur?

This. Never heard of it.

Can't say I'm surprised though. It was predicted some sites would do this.

Yeppppp · 30/09/2025 08:44

By blocked do you mean blocked subject to providing age verification? If so, why not just provide age verification?

TheNewWasp · 30/09/2025 09:16

Who cares? It's not true that most of the content of the Internet hosts pictures in that site. In fact, it's a blatant lie.

randomchap · 30/09/2025 09:22

Wikipedia has also been impacted by this badly thought out act

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr11qqvvwlo

The Tories made a massive mistake when writing it, and Starmer for not cancelling it.

Wikipedia logo on a phone screen. The logo is a globe made out of puzzle pieces. On each puzzle piece is a letter of the alphabet taken from a different language's alphabet - for example, there are Greek, Arabic and Cyrillic characters visible as well...

Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act verification rules

The Wikimedia Foundation says the new rules could threaten user privacy and safety.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr11qqvvwlo

randomchap · 30/09/2025 09:24

Yeppppp · 30/09/2025 08:44

By blocked do you mean blocked subject to providing age verification? If so, why not just provide age verification?

Because it's expensive, likely to be hacked, and easy to bypass.

JoBrodie · 30/09/2025 10:06

I've just come up against this on a Reddit thread with a screencapped gif showing how to do something on a bit of software. In this particular instance I was able to use https://archive.ph/ to recover the content, but it does add an annoying extra step. (And it may not work in every case).

Don't forget that on Mumsnet you can click on the 'add image' or 'add gif' buttons to upload pictures directly here.

• Original imgur link: https://imgur.com/65tkEVi
• Which comes from this Reddit comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/Inkscape/comments/16eea94/comment/jzzr936/
• Archived imgur link: https://archive.ph/zP3Ww

Jo

ApplebyArrows · 30/09/2025 11:36

So some skeevy foreign company is making too much money peddling pornography to kids to take basic safeguarding measures, and apparently we're supposed to think this is the government's fault?

AlpineMuesli · 30/09/2025 11:43

This imgur? Is it not just tit for tat?

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced it has launched three investigations looking into how TikTok, forum site Reddit and image-sharing site Imgur are protecting the privacy of child users in the UK.

www.lbc.co.uk/article/investigations-launched-into-tiktok-reddit-imgur-child-privacy-concerns-5HjczzC_2/

Goldenbear · 30/09/2025 11:44

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 30/09/2025 05:35

I thought Imgur was the assistant to Doctor Frankenstein? 🤔

😂

LeaderBee · 30/09/2025 11:52

CypressGrove · 30/09/2025 05:56

Why has it been blocked?

It probably hasn't been blocked by the UK, but rather the site themselves will have geolocked the website; I suspect the reason will be that it is not cost effective for them to implement the security checks that the UK requires of it and not locking out UK users means that the website owner would be liable for hefty fines if UK users access the site without those checks in place.